Graduate Cephalopod Research

I am a senior Biology student at Arcadia University about to Graduate in May. My undergraduate thesis is titled Cephalopod Body Patterning and Polarization Sensitivity: Mechanisms for Intraspecific Communication. I am interested in the biological basis of animal behaviour, especially the evolution of animal communication.

I've applied for graduate school at one location (www.vims.edu/mollusc), but due to substantial budget cuts, the program is no longer able to take on new students. Now I find myself in a bit of a connundrum, as the deadline for application to most grad programs has passed. Does anyone know of programs or researchers on the east coast (U.S.) that focus on invertebrate behaviour (cephalopods or other molluscs, primarily) and are currently looking for students? I can submit my CV for anyone who wants to see my qualifications.

I did my master's on Octopus rubescens at Walla Walla University under Dr. David Cowles. It is a very small, private, religiously affiliated school, but they have a substantial marine station, and a marine-oriented biology department. They are in Washington, but have a very late application deadline, which hasn't passed yet. It is a small department with only one behaviorist (Joe Galusha), but he has a good pedigree: He was the final Ph.D. student of Niko Tinbergen at Oxford. He is currently NSF funded for his gull behavior work, but it may be worth your time to shoot him an email and see if he would be interested in working with cephalopods. Drs Cowles and Nestler both work with marine invertebrates and I could foresee taking on a ceph behavioral project.
If it piques your interest:http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/areas-of-study/undergraduate-programs/biological-sciences/

WWU looks very interesting, I'll investigate it further and probably get in contact with Dr. Galusha Dr. Cowles or Dr. Nestler. What have you been working on since your master's? Thanks again for the quick reply.

Yup, WWU supports its grad students through at TA which covers tuition, fees, and a modest stipend. TA workload is actually fairly light at WWU when compared to some other universities (my TA load increased about 50% when I came to WSU over WWU). WWU expects you to TA 1-2 labs a term, at WSU its 2-3.